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FMQB: Whoah-Oh FitzMagic!

Posted by fmquarterback on September 21, 2018
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FMQB: Whoah-Oh FitzMagic!

Whoah-oh Fitz Magic!

If you had Ryan Fitzpatrick slated as the early MVP frontrunner, and beating the Super Bowl champions and a popular Super Bowl pick in the Saints on the road, then prove it. His season is truly magical so far. I agree with DeSean Jackson, how can you take him out and give Jameis Winston his job back?

 

Believe-land:

The range of emotions this team had in a 4 day stretch was pretty crazy. On Sunday, they had 2 missed FG’s and 2 missed extra points. The last extra pt. one was rough, which came right after an exciting 4th and 5 play late in the 4th quarter. It wouldn’t have mattered, as the Saints went up by 3, but they miraculously got back into Field Goal range. Watching Gonzalez march out onto the field for the 52 yarder with his head hanging, you just knew he was going to miss. He basically lost the game for them for the 2nd straight week. Keep in mind, the Browns, the LOWLY Browns, have gone toe to toe with the Saints (pun intended) and the Steelers. Two top-tier teams. They could easily be 3-0.

 

Ah, but Thursday night! The Browns finally won! It’s been 635 days since they’ve tasted victory. They struggled against the Jets and then Tyrod Taylor goes down, Browns fans must have been thinking “not again.” But the curse is broken and the Bud Light fridge unlocked! Congrats Cleveland.

 

The Most Exciting Tie you could see!

Pro-tip, if you’re looking for an exciting game to watch this year, turn on the Packers. They’ve been in two doozys, and the battle for the NFC North was another great one on Sunday. Full disclosure, the refs did not play favorites in this one and both sides have a right to be upset. Even on Rodger’s bum knee, the Packers were up 20-7 in the 4th quarter, partially thanks to a couple bad penalties especially one roughing the passer (although this one was close). But wow, Kirk Cousins turned it on in the 4th quarter. He actually looked fantastic this game, but they scored 21 points in the quarter and a 2 pt conversion to tie it up. The controversy came on the final drive, when he heaved one up as he was getting hit by Clay Matthews. INT, end of game, but hold on a flag for roughing the passer. There is literally a picture from the perfect angle that shows Matthews making contact and the ball is still in Cousins’ hands. He doesn’t wrap Cousin’s up, nor drive him into the ground, nor does he land with all of his weight on Kirk. You can also see Clay put his left hand down and try to brace his fall. This flag was absolutely terrible, but ended up making for an exciting game. The icing of Crosby after making a kick and having him miss, and then the Vikings kicker missing 2 OT FG’s yielded the tie. I will scream this one more time from the highest mountant, the 10 minute OT rule change is garbage! After the Vikings missed their FG, the Packers were driving and punted away with 3:57 left. You’re essentially limiting the number of drives to 3 if you’re lucky. Should have kept it at 15 minutes or at least switch to college football OT rules. I foreshadowed more ties last week, I just didn’t expect it to come the next week. I wouldn’t doubt this is talked about in the offseason, especially if there’s a 3rd tie.

 

Stat of the Week #1:

Ryan Fitzpatrick, a backup QB, is leading the league in TD’s, Yards, and passer rating

 

Stat of the Week #2:

Saquon Barkley had 14 receptions on Sunday, setting a team record. That’s more than Devante Adams, Stefon Diggs, AJ Green, Amari Cooper and Larry Fitzgerald have all season.

 

Stat of the Week #3:

Patrick Mahomes, first player with 10 TD passes in first 2 games. Keep in mind Sunday was his 3rd career start. Even the year that Peyton threw 55 TD’s, he only had 9 TD’s after Week 2.

 

Stat of the Week #4:

Ryan Fitzpatrick has 4 TD’s of over 35 yards, no other QB has more than 1.

 

Stolen Stat of the Week #5:

Oakland defense in first 2 games:

2 sacks

1 forced fumbles

0 fumbles recovered

1 interception

0 touchdowns

 

Khalil Mack in first 2 games:

2 sacks

2 forced fumbles

1 fumble recovered

1 interception

1 touchdown

 

Surprising Stat of the Week #6:

The Dolphins, Bengals, Buccaneers, Rams and Jaguars are in sole possession of 1st place in their division. Tell that to 2016 fans and they’d never believe you!

 

Stat of the Week #7:

In the Patriots Jaguars game, one QB threw the ball 45 times for 376 yards and 4 TD’s; and it wasn’t Tom Brady…

 

Stat of the Week #8:

Baker Mayfield’s first drive ended in points, and in his 1 half of play he threw for 201 yards and a QBR of 94.9 (out of 100).

 

Stat of the Week #9:

This is the first time since the new OT rules were introduced in 1972 that there were tie games in Week 1 and Week 2.

 

For the Record:

  • We’re 2 weeks in, and I wholeheartedly repeal my questioning of Andy Reid’s decision to trade Alex Smith and let Patrick Mahomes lead the team. I was dead wrong and I admit it. Mahomes looks like a star in the making.
  • The NFL eliminated their Catch Rule controversy just to replace it with Roughing the Passer. The Vikings game calls were abhorrent, and the fact the NFL agreed with the refs is an even bigger problem.
  • The Bengals are surprising, after two bum years they may have rebounded and be on their way to winning the division.
  • The Texans on the other hand are not living up to expectations, with everybody healthy
  • The Rise of the Rams is almost as abrupt as the fall of the Seahawks. They went from Super Bowl contender, to .500 team, to garbage in just 17 games
  • The Broncos comeback and final drive was pretty slick. John Gruden’s reaction to them making the kick was 100% Chucky too.

 

 

Divisional Deep Thinking:

Ties are weird, but the cool thing about the Vikings and Packers is that they now cannot tie the season series. They’ll go into their final game knowing that whoever wins will have the tiebreaker.

 

 

What it takes to Excel:

Blame me for being a homer, but this video of Rams coach Sean McVay is absolutely insane. A reporter gives him a situation such as “2015, Redskins vs Saints, 2nd and 12 on the 16 yard line with 4:24 left in the 3rd quarter.” And Sean will literally interrupt him and tell him the formation, the route, or what happened on the play.

https://sports.yahoo.com/sean-mcvays-power-recall-must-seen-believed-033739946.html

 

Video of the Year:

A few of you may have seen this, but it’s definitely worth watching again

http://dailysnark.com/colorado-mascot-shoots-himself-in-the-balls-after-accidentally-facing-t-shirt-cannon-wrong-way/

 

Quote of the Week:

“Is any of that yours?” Reporter- asking Ryan Fitzpatrick about his post-game outfit that he claimed to have borrowed from DeSean Jackson

“Just the chest hair”- Ryan Fitzpatrick

Quote of the Week #2:

“What came into the decision to let Dan Carlson (Vikings kicker) go?” Reporter

“Did you see the game?” Mike Zimmer

 

Quote of the Week #3:

“Hey, when’s the next article come out?” Reader

“Friday…hence the name” FMQB (sorry bro, I had to!)

 

Stolen Quote of the Week #4:

“The Bills are so bad, their players are retiring at halftime.” Still utterly astounded that Vontae Davis went into the locker room, put on his street clothes and just left. Never heard of anything remotely close to that. Completely disrespectful to the team, I don’t care what he says. If anything, tell the trainers you’re not feeling right or even sick and sit out the 2nd half.

 

Meme of the Week:

Meme of the Week #2:

Meme of the Week #3:

 

Meme of the Week #4:

 

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FMQB- Half Full or Half Empty

Posted by fmquarterback on November 1, 2013
Posted in: NFL. Tagged: , , , , , . 1 Comment

CalvinJohnson

We’re officially halfway through the season, wow time flies when you’re having fun! There is a much better idea of where teams stand than there was 2 months ago, and most fans know whether the outlook on their season is half full, or half empty. Still some major surprises, but it will be fun to see how the next 2 months play out.

 

Hail to the Chiefs (not in a racist way):

Last week FMQB swooned over the Kansas City Chiefs surprise rise to greatness. Well they made it to 8-0 this week, in a squeaker of a win over Cleveland and their 3rd string QB. Looking at their schedule, here is who the Chiefs have beaten: Jaguars, Cowboys, Eagles, Giants, Titans, Raiders, Texans, and Browns…none of which have a winning record. With 5 of their last 8 games against winning teams, it will be interesting to see whether their top defense and best record is because of they are legit, or because of their schedule.

 

Stat of the Week:

It took 2 weeks from Calvin Johnson to go from #42 in reception yards, to #1

Continue Reading

FMQB’s Big News!!!

Posted by fmquarterback on October 4, 2013
Posted in: NFL. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . 7 Comments

Manning2

FMQB Has some Big News! In case nobody has noticed yet, I’ll see if you can figure it out and let you know later in the blog. It was kind of a weird week of games last Sunday with unheard of rules and lackluster games. The lineup didn’t look great, but there always seems to be some good games that surprise people. But not this week. Only 2 (maybe 3) games ended up being truly worth watching. Ironically each game involved 4th quarter comebacks by more than 10 (of which only 1 team completed the comeback).

Don’t Call it a Comeback:

The first comeback of the day was the Steelers vs. Vikings game. The Vikings dominated all day, and for an 0-4 team, was looking pretty sharp. But the Steelers held the Vikings scoreless for the last 20 minutes of the game while their offense scored 10. Making it to a 1st and Goal situation, the Vikings defense held, forced a fumble and won.

The Second comeback could also be considered a major meltdown. The Texans were beating the undefeated Seahawks 20-3 at halftime, and would go on to not score in the 2nd half and lose the game. The Texans were up 20-6 with 7 minutes remaining before the Seahawks finally scored their first TD. Then with 2:40 left in the game, Schaub was heaving up a prayer that got picked off by Richard Sherman (now to be referred to as “Shoeless Sherman” since he outran the Texans with only one shoe). First off, why are the Texans throwing in that situation? Even if the Seahawks have timeouts, your D has stopped them all day! Instead the game was quickly tied up and Houston would go on to lose in OT.

The Third comeback happened in the Sunday Night game, where it was 30-13 with 6 minutes left. Normally the game is over, but I stayed up to watch the end just to get some extra football in for the week. Boy was I glad I did! Atlanta scored 10 quick points, got an onside kick, and held the Patriots to give the Falcons one last shot. They made it within 10 yards AGAIN, but lost 30-23 in another thriller. Continue Reading

FMQB: Why Football is like Marriage

Posted by fmquarterback on September 11, 2013
Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I decided to do a special edition of Friday Morning Quarterback this week, so forgive it coming a couple days early, because for once in my life, my mind isn’t 100% focused on football. Also, I realized that about 90% of my readers will be helping out or attending the wedding, so that’s no fun! We’ll get to the funnies later, but first, how about that Week 1! Awesome week of games, teams with concerns already, but this is shaping up to be a season of exciting games.

Cowboys that good? Giants that bad?

 

Sunday night’s turnover-fest was sloppy, but one of the more loopy games I’ve ever seen. The New York Toaster Strudels (because they’re good Turnovers) turned the ball over on their first play, and the next 2 possessions after that! Unbelievably, they were only down 3-0 after this point. But the Cowboys would start capitalizing on these turnovers. But I have 2 points I would like to throw out there. First, when the Toaster Strudels were clicking, they were clicking! Manning had 450 yards passing, 4 TD’s, and every interception was tipped into a Cowboy’s hands, not necessarily his fault. The Giants looked very strong other than 6 plays. But 6 plays decided this game. My Second point, is that the Cowboys barely won. With 6 turnovers, they should have won by 28. So sure the Cowboys took this game, but watch them fall off and the Toaster Strudels to pick it up the rest of the year.

For the record, apparently the NFL cleared the Giants of faking injuries (ring a bell FMQB fans?). I chose Toaster Strudels because of this, otherwise I would have brought back Los Tramposos. Continue Reading

FMQB: The Devil and Little Eagle Meatballs

Posted by fmquarterback on October 12, 2012
Posted in: Football, NFL, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , . 1 Comment

For the Record:

I’d like to start off discussing the dominance Drew Brees has shown the past 4 seasons. On Sunday night, Brees once again beat another QB record. He has thrown a TD pass in 48 straight games, passing Johnny Unitas 1956 record. It’s crazy for me to think, just how different the eras these 2 QBs played in. In a run-first league with 12 games a season, Unitas revolutionized the position, and helped pave the way for the great QBs to come. Brees is a stat machine in a passing league, with rules favoring offense/QBs, giving him the most passing yards in a season. Yet, it took 56 years for this record to be broken. To put it in perspective, here are QBs that came before Brees that couldn’t beat this record. Joe Montana, Bart Starr, John Elway, Dan Marino, Kurt Warner, Steve Young, Roger Staubach, Terry Bradshaw, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Brett Favre. This record by Unitas/Brees is easily comparable to Joe Dimaggio’s 56 game hit streak. Just something that’s extremely difficult to be consistent and string together.

The Devil Watches Football:

Get ready for the most eerie stat FMQB had ever provided!!! Monday night, Tim Tebow played in the 666th Monday Night Football game. Tebow took 6 snaps in the game. His counterpart, Mark Sanchez (who wears number 6), has thrown 6 TDs, 6 INTs, is averaging 6.6 yds per completion. Longest throw of the season is 66 yards. What’s Sanchez’ passer rating? You guessed it, 66.6. *cue Twilight Zone music* Pretty sure this is saying Sanchez is the Devil, and Tebow is God.

Stat of the Week #1:

In the last 6 quarters, the Bills have given up 90 points! To show how bad this is, there are 9 teams in the NFL that haven’t given up 90 points in 5 full games.

Stat of the Week #2:

There are 13 teams whose defense has given up less than 100 points, 4 of those 13 teams play in the NFC West.

Stat of the Week #3:

To show last year wasn’t the Rams fault, they have the 2nd best secondary in the league with a 66.6 passer rating against (have they played the Jets 5 times this year?). Last year, they put 10 secondary players on IR.

Stat of the Week #4:

San Francisco has outscored opponents 79-3 in their last 2 games.

Stat of the Week #5:

Tom Brady has more rushing TD’s than Michael Vick. Vick has thrown for as many attempts as Brady.

Stat of the Week #6:

It took 5 games for Tebow to throw an incomplete pass, just saying…

Stat of the Week #7:

The Rams are above .500 for the first time since November of 2006. Several tough years as a fan.

Houston is Scary:

How good is the Texan’s farm system? The team is 5-0 for the first time ever, and this is after letting the faces of their defense walk after last season (Mario Williams and DeMeco Ryans).

Proof there’s Parity:

Last year, the Panthers had the #1 overall pick followed by the Broncos. The Broncos turned it around to a playoff season, and the Panthers had 6 wins and a star QB. This year, the Colts had the #1 pick, followed by the Rams (technically, before they traded down), then the Vikings. So far, it’s only Week 5 and the Colts, Rams, and Vikings have the same or more wins than they did all of last year. This is the fun part about football, you have 1 or 2 powerhouses sure, but every year your team has a legitimate shot at turning things around.

 

Who?

Trivia question, for the Green Bay Packers, who has the single game record for passing yards? If you guessed Starr, Favre, or Rodgers, you’re wrong. It’s Matt Flynn (last years’ game against the Lions). Question #2: Which quarterback led the 49ers to the highest amount of offensive yards (621) in franchise history? Was it the 4 time Super Bowl winning Joe Montana? Nope. Was it the hall of famer and franchise favorite Steve Young? Wrong again! It was Alex Smith! This happened this past Sunday. Another tidbit, Alex Smith is leading the league in Passer Rating. If you would have said that 3 years ago, you would have been laughed at.

Question to Ponder (and RGIII Quota):

I wonder how Redcheeks quarterback RGIII is adjusting to actually getting hit in the NFL. Funny how after his concussion he has nothing to say about getting demolished the entire game, but he can rip the Rams for hitting him. Maybe he’s growing up!

Question to Ponder #2:

What the heck happened in the Chiefs vs Ravens game? 9-6 was the final score! This was a matchup between the #3 and #7 teams in total offense.

J-E-T-S, NOT, THAT, BAD!

I’m not going to lie, I’ve been off the Jets bandwagon for a long time now. But wow people love to hate them! They looked atrocious against the 49ers, but then again, we have one of the better offenses and the best D in the league. Monday night’s game, the Jets bounced back and dare I say looked impressive against an undefeated Texans team. Even with crappy statistics, the Jets hung in there. What they need to do is get more in tuned with their trickery. Cromartie coming in on several offensive plays (even though they didn’t connect), sent the Texans reeling. Tebow was able to knock out a few decent runs, including a very sweet fake punt. The Jets didn’t look that bad on Monday. They’re still a 7-9 team at the end of the year, but they aren’t that bad…Play I want to see this year? Tebow lining up as a WR, doing a reverse to get the ball from Sanchez. Tebow fakes to run it (meanwhile Sanchez is running down the side of the sideline), but pulls back and fires it to Sanchez in the endzone. Or would God throwing a TD to the Devil cause the world to end (too bad the Jets don’t have a game on Dec 21,2012)…Not sure if anybody remembers this (sad that I do), but think back to 2003 when Tomlinson threw to a wide open Drew Brees for the TD. Very cool!

Higher Power:

There’s a lot of talk about heroes in football, players on a battlefield (or for Kevin Winslow, he’s a “SOLDIER”), God looking down on his team, Tebow getting aid from a higher power, and even miracles. But this is all blown out of proportion when amazing plays happen at amazing times. Well, Sunday had a situation that sent chills through the Indianapolis locker room. Colts head coach Chuck Pagano got diagnosed with Leukemia last week and was forced to end his season to get treatment. Last year, the Colts were the worst team in football, while you could argue the Packers were the best. The Packers came out to an early lead and the Colts were down 21-3 at halftime. But they all remembered their coach. The heart the Colts showed in the second half was something from above. They were able to fight back and scrape out a win, all for their coach. It’s feel-good stories like this that keep fans coming back to football.

Quote of the Week:

“We’re gonna grind those guys up into little Eagle meatballs”- Steelers coach

Quote of the Week #2:

“Why is the kicker wearing gloves?” FFMQB

Baseball Quote of the Week:

“Well, at least Atlanta has a good football team” unknown (after the Braves lost due to a controversial call and threw bottles and trash onto the field)

Baseball Quote of the Week #2:

“I didn’t know the MLB had the replacement Umps in for this game” FMQB (after seeing the controversial call)

Situation of next Week:

Tampa Bay and Kansas City play this week. I bet KC wins it by a TD, but only after Brady Quinn has a horrible game. On the final kneeldown, the Buccaneers will dive at the Chiefs legs and Quinn will get caught up with it and have to be carted off the field. Chiefs fans will cheer this move by the Bucs…

It has been 17 days since our last arrest…(technically a Bengals Cheerleader is in trouble right now, but we’ll give the NFL a free pass, only on this one)

Next Week:

Scouting report of the 49ers vs Giants game, since I’ll be there!!! Re-match of the NFC Championship.

FMQB: Caught Me Slackin’

Posted by fmquarterback on November 4, 2011
Posted in: Football. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

I need to start off with a disclaimer about this week’s column. I literally got to see about a half hour of football in Week 8 due to being out of town. As a result, I only got to watch scores update on my phone (I even missed the Rams upset of the Saints)! So not sure about the quality of this weeks’ column, as my ideas for discussion worthy issues are rather slim. So I apologize, you guys caught me slackin’!

 

“And the Tebow Goes To…”

There are some iconic poses in the world of sports, the Heisman pose, the Jerry West NBA logo to name a few. But a new pose is sweeping the sports world…The Tebow! It’s even become a nationwide fad. Instead of “planking,” people are now picking random spots and “Tebowing.” A Tebow is where you kneel down, place your elbow on your knee, and your fist on your head. It looks much like “The Thinker” statue, except you’re kneeling instead of sitting. Tim Tebow does this pose everytime before he goes in for a series, and it has become iconic. This is my plea to the NFL to make a trophy, like the Heisman, and give it out to the MVP of the league every year. The pose will be of a Tebow.

While we’re on the subject, the Broncos looked atrocious on Sunday agains the Lions, at home. Tebow was sacked 7 times, and they got killed 45-10! Perhaps I crowned him too soon.

 

Scheduling WTH!

I was checking out the schedule for this week’s Games of the Week, and noticed something goofy. Normally Week 10 is the last week for bye teams, but this year it is Week 11. Not only that, the Bye’s skip over Week 10! What the Heck? Teams have byes in the following weeks this year: 5,6,7,8,9, and 11. Just strange to me.

 

No Mo-Town:

Don’t get me wrong, FMQB is still on the Lions bandwagon, it’s fun to see them do well for a change. But this new found success is getting to their heads. First it was a coach fight, last week Suh was kicking Matt Ryan and yelling “Bring out the cart” (allegedly), and now this past week they got involved in the Tebowing craze. But this week was flat out funny! The Lions got to Tebow and sacked him 7 times! After one sack, there is a great picture of Tebow laying on the ground, while the defensive lineman is doing a Tebow right next to him. Then a double move of cockiness, ex-Bronco Tony Scheffler caught a TD, did a FAKE Tebow, and then Mile High Saluted the Denver crowd. Both these moves were bold, but funny.

 

 Where we’re at for Team Names:

Just a quick recap. We’re halfway through the season and there are a few nicknames I’d like to remind the readers where we are at, and even add a couple new ones.

Philadelphia Eagles are referred to as the Nightmares until they’re over .500

New York Giants are referred to as Los Tramposos (Spanish for Cheaters) due to faking injuries.

I am changing the name of a few other teams for the rest of the season:

With the multiple personalities of the Lions, they are hereby called the Detroit Rex’s since I think the Lions players are about as cocky as Rex Ryan.

The Washington Redskins are hereby changed to the Washington Fighting Sioux, since the Sioux is a lot less offensive than Redskins. Based on the crazy notion that the University of North Dakota should change their name, while the Redskins, Indians, Braves, and Seminoles are fine with their tomahawking and mascots.

Based on last week’s columns, the Baltimore Ravens are hereby the Baltimore Nevermores.

The Carolina Panthers will now be referred to as the Carolina Newtons (not to be mistaken for the measurement of mass), since if it were in God’s Gift to Man Cam’s power, he would be the only person on the team.

The Kansas City Chiefs will now be known as the Kansas City Chargers, since for some reason the whole “Start off horribly only to go on a winning streak” craze jumped AFC West teams from the Chargers to the Chiefs.

 

Stat of the Week #1:

If the two #1 seeds met in the Super Bowl this year, it would be a rematch of last years’ game.

 Stat of the Week #2:

The Kansas City Chargers started the season 0-3, just 4 games later they are winning the AFC West.

 Stat of the Week #3:

San Francisco’s Magic Number is 5, meaning they could clinch a playoff berth by Week 13

 Stat of the Week #4:

The Kansas City Chiefs would currently host a home playoff game, but are -42 in point differential.

 Stat of the Week #5:

The Cardinals are 1-6, and have only a -40 point differential where as the Chiefs are 4-3.

 Stat of the Week #6:

Sam Bradford is tied for 3rd in the league for the amount of times sacked, but he’s even missed 2 games.

 Stat of the Week #7:

Only 12 RB’s are on pace for a 1000 yd season…two of those play for Houston.

 Stat of the Week #8:

The #2 and #3 leaders in receptions in the league both play for New Orleans…neither of them are Wide Receivers

 Stat of the Week #9:

Cam Newton has 7 more rushing TD’s than Michael Vick

 

Poe-leeasssee!

As I mentioned last week (or Edgar Allen Poe mentioned in 1847, however you want to look at it), the Baltimore Nevermores needed to be extremely careful of playing bad teams due to their tendency to beat the good and lose to the bad. The Cardinals took the Nevermores to the brink, only to have them come back from 24 down to win the game and barely escape Poe’s predictions.

 

 Quarterback Rankings

On Sunday night, FFMQB asked “Do you think Tony Romo is a Top 10 quarterback?” I said yes but it would be at the bottom of that list, she said no. So it got me thinking about how good QB’s are in comparison. I’m sure this will spark some disagreements and perhaps debate, but here is my list. I am including Peyton Manning, Chad Henne, anybody who should be their team’s #1 QB right now.

  1. Peyton Manning
  2. Tom Brady
  3. Drew Brees
  4. Aaron Rodgers
  5. Ben Roethlisberger
  6. Philip Rivers
  7. Tony Romo
  8. Eli Manning
  9. Matt Ryan
  10. Jay Cutler
  11. Michael Vick
  12. Matt Schaub
  13. Matthew Stafford
  14. Cam Newton
  15. Mark Sanchez
  16. Ryan Fitzpatrick
  17. Matt Hasselbeck
  18. Joe Flacco
  19. Matt Cassel
  20. Jason Campbell
  21. Joshua Freeman
  22. Sam Bradford
  23. Kyle Orton
  24. Rex Grossman
  25. Andy Dalton
  26. Carson Palmer
  27. Christian Ponder
  28. Tim Tebow
  29. Alex Smith
  30. John Beck
  31. Kyle Kolb
  32. Blaine Gabbert
  33. Colt McCoy
  34. Chad Henne
  35. Donovan McNabb
  36. Tavaris Jackson

 One disclaimer, the only reason I have Cam Newton so low is because he’s a rookie and hasn’t won. Sure he puts up stats galore, but until he proves to be a winner, he will not break my top 10. Same goes for Ponder, Dalton, and Gabbert, it’s too early to put them above other proven QBs.

 Also, there are very strong arguments for any of the Top 4 to be the best QB in the league. I feel like Rodgers could be #1 or #4, that’s how close it is for me.

If the Playoffs were to start today:

Baltimore, a team with a .714 winning percentage, would be out, while Buffalo, a team with a .714 winning percentage, would have a first round bye.

The Texans, Chiefs, and Bengals would have a higher seed than the Patriots.

 

Quote of the Week:

“If there was one team on the Rams schedule this year that I would have said they don’t have a shot at winning, it was against New Orleans” Matt

 

World Series Magic Dust:

I had 2 questions after Sunday’s games, and both revolved around the miracle in St. Louis. First, holy Rams, where did that come from? The second, what the heck happened to the Saints? As I mentioned last week, the Rams had scored 56 points total, while the Saints scored 62 points in Week 7 alone. The Rams were up 17-0 at half, but my initial thoughts were the Saints could easily erase that deficit. But the Rams kept pouring it on and somehow the team that was averaging 9 points per game kept scoring! In the end it probably won’t mean much, but at least we can say that the Rams were competitive with a team that is a Super Bowl contender. Must have been some leftover World Series Magic Dust in St. Louis.

 

Games of the Week:

Wooo great lineup this week! Tons of divisional matchups and playoff implications. Be sure to pay attention to the following games:

 Buccaneers at Saints

 Jets at Bills

 Nevermores at Steelers

 Bears at Nightmares

FMQB- Los Tramposos and the QB Conspiracy

Posted by fmquarterback on September 29, 2011
Posted in: Football, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

For one week only, FMQB will now become ThMQB (Thursday Morning QB) since FMQB is road tripping to St. Louis to watch the Rams game live and in person! In all actuality, I work on writing my column every Monday, and tweak it after the MNF game. I’m already regretting dubbing myself the FMQB because I get so excited waiting for it to be Friday to publish it!

Contenders or Pretenders:

This has been one of the more bizarre years in recent football memory and it’s only Week 3! I am literally having trouble making sense of why the good teams can look bad, yet some have winning records. How bottom of the barrel teams and teams that should be having another tough year are somehow taking out the powerhouses.

We have the Steelers (2-1) looking horrible in Week 1, fantastic in Week 2, and barely beating the Colts in Week 3. This is the AFC Champion Steelers we’re talking about, I’m not convinced until I see some consistency (remember FMQB predicted they’d miss the playoffs). Pretender

Same with the Giants (2-1), Los Tramposos (Spanish for “cheaters”). They looked horrible against the Redskins and 3 quarters against the Rams, how do the they come in and defeat their rival dream-team Eagles, IN Philly! Pretender

Speaking of which, I was caught up in the hype about the Eagles (1-2) this year as well. I agreed with Vince Young that they were a “Dream Team” and couldn’t believe the big name players on the roster! Yet Philly is 1-2 and in last place in the division. Even the Rams beat up Michael Vick quite a bit, although not enough to slow down the offense. Still a Contender

Oakland (2-1) has proved they are definitely for real this year. They were 3 points away from knocking off the Bills and being 3-0, but this week’s win against the Jets was very impressive. Contender

Buffalo (3-0) is also real. Defeating the Chiefs and Raiders, the Bills were still up in the air in my book. But knocking off the Patriots, who have had their number for the past 15 games, proves that Buffalo will be a force to be reckoned with late in the season. Contender

Second bandwagon team I’ve jumped on, the Lions (3-0) also proved they are for real. In any other year, being down 20-0 at halftime the Lions would have expected to lose. They seem very confident this season, and coming back to win shows heart. They have beaten Tampa Bay on the road, a major offensive performance at home against KC, and a monster comeback on the road. Contender

Matt Hasselbeck and the Titans are a team that shouldn’t be 2-1. All signs pointed to a rebuilding year, with Kenny Britt out for the season, and Chris Johnson not performing, one wonders how they managed to lose to Jacksonville at home but beat Baltimore on the road. Could throw a twist into the AFC South with the Colts out of it, but they are still a Pretender.

The Falcons are a team that shouldn’t be 1-2. They have started off slow, but have lost to good Chicago and Tampa Bay teams. At 1-2 and defeating the Eagles, Atlanta is still a Contender.

San Francisco (2-1) has a winning record and was an overtime FG away from being 3-0! Whoah where did this come from? The NFC West that’s where! They crushed a struggling Seahawks team, barely beat the lowly Bengals, and only by internal organ damage were they able to take the Cowboys to the brink. It’s Week 3 and the 49ers WILL win the division and make it to the playoffs, however expect an early and embarrassing exit, which means that when it comes to the title, they are a Pretender.

Redskins have looked impressive up until Monday night. But their Quarterback is still Baby Face Rex Grossman, and that’s the only reason why they are a Pretender.

Once again the Chargers (2-1) are a confusing team to me. You can literally break down 3 plays which lead to them either being 3-0 or 0-3. One of my preseason favorites, they have barely eeked out wins against the Vikings and Chiefs, and yet nearly toppled the Patriots. Is this part of their annual slow start, or is it something worse? Time will tell, but I will not tell if they are a pretender or contender.

The Bears are another team that shouldn’t be 1-2, and yet Jay Cutler continues to be hit (14 sacks in 3 games). As soon as the Bears look good in one department, they look horrible in another. If they can fix their consistency issues, I feel the Bears are still a Contender.

At the beginning of the season, FMQB said that the division was Houston’s for the taking. I am sticking with my guns on this one. The Texans (2-1) are very close to being 3-0, and their only loss was in a shootout with the powerhouse Saints. Interested to see how they do with the upcoming Steelers, Raiders, and Ravens. But they are still Contenders.

Time to give Kubiak some props:

Speaking of Houston, in the 2006 NFL Draft, the Texans personnel decisions were radically questioned by just about everybody in the league. In that year, with the #1 pick they chose Mario Williams while giving up the chance to own the speedy Reggie Bush or fresh champion Vince Young to be the face of their franchise. Analysts and fans alike were shocked, and thought it was downright insane to miss out on those 2 explosive players. Here we are 5 years later. Reggie Bush is a backup RB for a team that is 0-3. Vince Young is a backup QB for a team that is 1-2. Neither one are still with the teams that drafted them. Meanwhile Mario Williams has 50 sacks in 5 years, believe it or not that’s more sacks than Ray Lewis has in 15 years! He has also only missed 3 games in his career due to injury, while Young and Bush’s explosive play has led to lingering injury problems. (Bush has missed 20 games due to injury, Young has missed 29 games due to injury or being benched). Gotta hand it to you Texans, that was a bold franchise decision that worked wonders!

“And That’s Why They Play The Game!”

Last week FMQB made a plea for Flex-scheduling to be able to avoid having to watch the Steelers kill the Manning-less Colts. Boy was I wrong, not only was this an exciting game, the Steelers actually had to come back to win the game! Freeney and Mathis absolutely wrecked havoc on Big Ben. And Polamalu was flying into the backfield on several plays, one of which I swore he was going to take the handoff instead of Joseph Addai! It was an exciting game nonetheless, much like Green Bay vs. Carolina the week before. I may not write off bad games on paper anymore (although not too excited for Tampa Bay vs Indy next Monday).

Stat of the Week #1:

The Bears rushed for a measly 13 yards on Sunday. Jay Cutler had 11 of them.

Stat of the Week #2:

The Bills, Lions, and Browns are a combined 8-1! Last season they went a combined 15-33.

Stat of the Week #3:

Alex Smith’s TD to INT ratio is the same as the 49ers record, 2-1.

Stat of the Week #4:

Kansas City’s leading rusher is a Wide Receiver. He is also leading the league in yds/attempt and is 26th in the league for rushing yards! Who is in 2nd place for yds/attempt? Michael Vick, a quarterback (who is also in 20th place in the league for rushing yards).

Stat of the Week #5:

Four of the top 8 leaders in receptions aren’t Wide Receivers or Tight Ends. It is 3 RB’s and a FB.

Stat of the Week #6:

There have been 3 kickoff returns for TD’s this season, they all came in Week 1.

Stat of the Week #7:

Tom Brady was intercepted 4 times all of last season (960 minutes of game time). In a span of 22 minutes in Sunday’s game, Brady was intercepted 4 times by the Bills.

Stat of the Week #8:

The Eagles have what I will argue as 3 of the top 6 cornerbacks in the league right now (Asomugha, Samuel, Rodgers-Cromartie). In nickel packages, this means that a top 6 corner is covering the offense’s #3 receiver. Yet the Eagles have given up 8 TD passes, which is dead last in the league for pass TD’s allowed.

Quote of the Week:

Proof that Vikings fans now have no faith in their team, FMQB and FFMQB (Female Friday Morning QB) were driving during the second quarter of the game on Sunday. After going into halftime up 20-0, FFMQB asked “What are the odds they blow this one too?” I proceeded to have faith in the Vikings, after all they were up by 20, but FFMQB wasn’t having it. Sure enough, we get in the car later to hear that the Vikings blew their 3rd lead in a row. In their first three games, the Vikings have gone into halftime leading by 10, 17, and 20 points. They are 0-3. What are the odds that Ponder is brought in by Week 6? I have been saying it ALL YEAR, but watching them play has only been fueling my prediction.

What if the Vikings ARE Good!

Look at the teams the Vikings have blown leads to: Chargers, Buccaneers, Lions. These are all playoff caliber teams with a combined record of 7-2. What if the Vikings had hung onto 1 or 2 of those games, they might be in the discussion of Contenders. Perhaps they turn it around against the Chiefs and Cardinals.

Horrible quote of the decade:

Remember when Kellen Winslow Jr. was with the Browns, and he freaked out at reporters and ranted “We are Soldiers!” Well Tony Romo got as close to being a soldier on Monday. He wore a Kevlar bullet-proof vest to protect his broken rib and battered lung. This also came in handy with the rumor that Carrie Underwood and Jessica Simpson were seen at the stadium. Does anybody actually believe that “Before He Cheats” wasn’t written about Tony Romo? How about “Cowboy Casanova” when Romo happens to play for the…Cowboys.

Who’s Undefeated?!?!

There are 3 teams that are undefeated this year, 2 of them are the Lions and Bills.

Vick gets hurt Again!:

After coming back from a concussion the week before, Vick ended up badly bruising his hand (initially thought to be a break) against Los Tramposos. Time and time again FMQB has talked about how banged up Vick is getting. The preseason was awful for him, even the Rams were knocking him around. It’s week 3 and he has already left the game twice for what could have been major injuries. I had an Over/Under 4 games missed due to injury at the beginning of the year, that prediction is looking pretty good as well.

On a side note, mouthguards are supposed to dramatically reduce the risk of concussions due to the jaws not slamming in on each other. QB’s typically don’t wear mouthguards as it is tough to understand the play that’s being called. But after a QB’s first concussion, most will return with a mouthguard. Vick doesn’t wear a mouthguard, and the blood he was spitting out was due to biting his tongue. When he returned Week 3, it was once again without a mouthguard.

Colt’s QB Competition is now a QB Conspiracy:

Before knowing anything for sure, I hate to say that Kerry Collins’ concussion wasn’t legit, but did you see the play that it supposedly happened? Not only was his head not hit (or hit the ground), he didn’t look phased at all as he immediately started jarring with the ref. But afterwards they showed Collins on the bench, with no trainers around him, sitting there looking frustrated with Curtis Painter warming up. It took nearly a half hour in real time to show trainers escorting Collins to the locker room. This all just seems fishy to me if the NFL is cracking down on concussion safety. Collins is completing 49% of his passes and has 481 yards in 3 games. He’s 29th in passing yards, 30th in passer rating, it’s obvious he isn’t getting the Colts offense. So they needed a spark. It’s hard to justify benching your free agent QB signing, but it’s my contention that Collins isn’t actually hurt and it’s an excuse to get Painter in. Painter had the best drive of the season for the Colts on one series. Just saying…(cue Twighlight Zone music).

Oh how the Immortal have fallen:

This week, God’s Gift to Man Cam only had 158 yds passing. Granted, this is 4X as many yards as McNabb had in Week 1, but after the 400 yard performances this looks pretty weak! What’s the only difference in this game? The Panthers actually won! On a side note, Cam’s immortal status has apparently angered the Football Gods, as they cast down a torrential monsoon for this game. Quote from one analyst watching the game “It sounds like they’re broadcasting in the shower!” 

Obscure Scores of the Week:

At one point in the game, the Panthers led the Jaguars 5-3.

At one point in the game, the Redskins were winning 16-15. Only after the 9th field goal of the game did the Cowboys win 18-16.

The 49ers won their game 13-8.

Games of the Week:

Redskins at Rams (Why? Because I’m there!)

Lions at Cowboys (Could be a test for the Lions, but an exciting game is sure to happen)Over/Under Field Goals by the Cowboys vs. Calvin Johnson catches!

 

Steelers at Texans (Which team sinks to .500, which team is legit)

Patriots at Oakland (Oakland might have what it takes to take down Tom Brady)

Jets at Ravens (Rex Ryan vs. his old team)

 

Next Week: A detailed description of the Rams home game!!!